Is Valve Working On A Gaming Console Called Steam Box?

Bellevue, Washington based Valve Corporation is best known for their social distribution network known as Steam and for the Source engine used in game development. Recent rumors have been indicating that Valve is going to get into the hardware business. They are currently playing with the idea of setting up a set-top console that would compete directly against the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.
Valve co-founder was recently quoted in an interview with Penny Arcade as saying: “Well, if we have to sell hardware we will.”

According to sources with The Verge, Valve is supposedly working on a hardware spec and associated software that would make up the back-bone of a “Steam Box.” The actual console is expected to be made by a variety of partners and the software would be readily available to any company.

Meetings were held during CES to demo a hand-built version of the device to potential partners according to the Verge. The basic specs of the Steam Box would include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and NVIDIA GPU.